Look how awesome my customers are!

Jessalyn from Junebug Creations bought my South Sea Squares quilt pattern a few months ago, and look how darling hers turned out!

(photo by Jessalyn, used with her permission)

This is my favorite part about pattern design - seeing how other people interpret my designs in fun new ways! Of course, I could just be partial to this quilt because I love the sock monkey fabric ... but come on, it's a quilt cute even if you don't have the sock monkey fabric obsession I have!

So come on, Lazy Mamas! Show me what you've made ... hmmm, do I smell a contest abrewing?

Look! Pattern development!

Yeah, so with all the mermaid tail production and sock knitting and vacationing, it's been a little while since I've introduced a new pattern to my shop. I've got a new one on the machine now, though, and once I get it written up I think it will be pretty popular. Here's a taste:

It may be a few days before it's available, though, since I have Important Things to do, like go to the observation class at Lazy Kid's dance studio.

Pimpin' my homies

http://www.clevelandhandmade.com/?page_id=70

The Cleveland Handmade etsy team has an orange-and-black challenge going, with voting continuing until Sunday, October 26, so stop by the site and pick your favorite. Sign up for the mailing list at the same time, and you're entered to win a gift certificate good at any of the participating shops. Just in time for holiday shopping!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, I do have an entry - the Halloween Hexagons quilt. I can't decide whether I like this view better, or the view they used for the ballot - I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?

on the needles

Yup, the Christmas rush has started already.

My goal this year is a pair of socks for everyone we exchange gifts with, which means two boys, a preschooler, my parents, LazyHusband's parents, LazyHusband's sisters, LazyHusband and Lazy Kid. That's a lot of stockinette.

Depending on how tight on time I am, I may count the socks for LazyHusband and Lazy Kid as already done, and really early, too!

But I've got my mother's socks on the needles, using stretch cotton self-striping sock yarn, and using the Jaywalker pattern for the legs (just plain stockinette for the feet). I've got the first sock finished, and dove right into the second sock ... only to find out that the striping width varies from one end of the skein to the other, so that when I started the second sock pulling yarn from the outside of the ball, I got wide stripes, but the first sock (from the inside of the ball) had thin stripes. So I frogged the second and dug around to find the inside end, started the sock again, and the stripes were thin. Huzzah!

And I have yarn for my mother-in-law's socks, my father's socks, and a pair for me and Lazy Kid to match. I probably have enough scraps left to do the boys' socks out of the leftovers from LazyHusband's socks, and I'm waiting for inspiration to strike before I buy yarn for my sisters-in-law. Plus, one of them lives in San Diego - not much sock-wearing going on there, unless I make her a pair of tabi to go with her flip-flops.

For some reason, I also decided it was a good idea to try the Liberty blanket in Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines, which is 4'x5' and done in an intricate Fair Isle pattern that has a pattern repeat of like, um, 60 rows. And the yarn is sticky enough on the needles that I'm getting carpal-tunnel from trying to scootch the stitches along as I knit. I've taken to grabbing sections of it with my teeth to pull it along ... so now my lips are chapping, too.

What the hell was I thinking? At least it's just for me, so if I have to stuff it in the back of a closet for a while to regain my composure, nobody's going to miss out at Christmas. Besides, the first five rows of the pattern look really nice ... and I've only made like two errors that I know of, neither of which will be noticeable once I'm done. Right? Right.

Cowl-ly goodness

Okay, here's the cowl I finished while we were on vacation:

And here's a closeup of the stitch pattern, since nobody seems to have included that anywhere with the directions. It looks pretty cool, but since it gets all bunched up when you wear it, I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
Again, that's "Abby," by Amy R. Singer, found via Ravelry on knitty.com, made using some laceweight blue alpaca that I got for free (thanks, petite!).

Also, compare the first photo background with the previous photo backgrounds, such as you'd find here ... we painted our bathroom teal! Yay! I love it, but it does make for a somewhat more cave-like photo.

Success!

I looked down last night, and LazyHusband, LazyKid and I were all wearing socks I had knit.

Score!

This winter I'm going to try for an extended family portrait with all of us - including grandparents - swathed in toasty handknit socks.

LazyFamily, you've been warned!

Tinker Toy swift

Success! I made a variation of the Tinker Toy swift (tons of versions available online - here's one I used as inspiration) and used it while I hand-wound one of the Ranco skeins I got in Blacksburg. It worked great - nice and sturdy, exactly the right size for my skein, and it went together in less than five minutes.

Also, it didn't cost $80 like some umbrella swifts can.

Plus, LazyKid helped assemble it, and LazyHusband was supremely impressed that it worked, even if he still doesn't get why I need to wind my yarn into balls in the first place.

Now, if I can find a set of K'Nex, I'm totally making myself a ball winder. That'll be another $40 saved, since technically buying a set of K'Nex is a "toy" purchase, not a "yarn" purchase, right? Even if LazyKid can't use them for another couple years? Right?

Back from vacation, with two projects finished

When I wasn't wandering around looking at stuff like this:
... I was knitting. A lot. Like for hours on the plane, for hours every night after we hit Lazy Kid on the head with the sleep hammer, for hours while we drove from Denver to Colorado Springs and back. I get a lot done on vacation, have I mentioned that?

First project I finished in Colorado: Socks for LazyHusband

And since I haven't bothered to link to it before, here are the instructions I use for toe-up socks. These were made in "Forever" by Lane Cervinia in color 61, on size 2 DPNs. They were a lot of fun, as the pattern in the yarn changed so frequently that the miles and miles and miles of plain stockinette stitch wasn't nearly so mind-numbing as it could have been. Because hubby has size 13 feet which are about the size of waterskis, so trust me, there was plenty of stockinette. Plenty.

The other project I finished I can't show you yet - it's not blocked yet, as I just finished it four hours ago as our plane was taxi-ing into the Cleveland airport. It's a lace cowl, "Abby," by Amy R. Singer, found via Ravelry on knitty.com. I made it using leftover alpaca yarn from the "Eve" sweater I did last winter, and the yarn was every bit as hairy and somewhat itchy as I remembered. Here's hoping it will be cold enough when I wear it that I won't notice :)

More from vacation, including a review of an awesome yarn store, and a tribute to a ridiculously expensive cashmere scarf kit I couldn't bring myself to splurge on, and I've been kicking myself ever since.

Sewing for Lazy Kid

Child's Sock Pattern by Lucy H. Lee, found for free via Ravelry. Knit from Soxx Appeal by Knit One, Crochet Too, I think the colorway was Purple Haze. Fun, fast knit, even if they are done on size 2 DPNs. Gah.

Next up: A bean bag chair with a secret.


It's filled with all of Lazy Kid's stuffed animals, which she never uses for anything, anyway, but won't let me throw out. Hah! Now the kid has a place to sit when she watches videos in my studio, and I have extra room to store toys she actually uses. Not bad for coming from a free pattern and using up stash fabric ... even if I did have to use pins to sew on the bottom and top. Pins are evil, have I mentioned that recently?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I just realized that I have a vacation to pack for, and NO SUITABLE KNITTING TO TAKE WITH ME. The horror! The horror! Must buy more yarn!

Happy fall!

Now go buy something to decorate your house, like my new Halloween Hexagon quilt!

Or make something, like a crocheted Zombie Bunny!

Or get a treat bag for YOU - forget the kids, mommies need candy, too!

What I would buy for my husband ...

... if only I had sold a few more things on etsy this year. It would look awesome on the wall in his office.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=fp_feat_10&listing_id=15233947

Go check it out, and be amazed.

Newest finished project - socks for ME!!!!!

Pattern: Kaibashira by Chrissy Gardiner

Yarn: Soxx Appeal by Knit One Crochet Too in 9260 Raspberry Sundae

Verdict: Hell, yeah! I love these socks. I love this yarn. I love this pattern. It's 75F outside and I still want to wear wool socks, that's how great they are. Seriously, I can't wait to start another pair for myself once I finish a couple of Lazy Mama projects that are on the needles right now. The only thing I might do differently is the cast-on scalloped edge. I think ribbing might work better to help them stay up ... but then again, that edge is pretty cute.

Show a Clevey some love

The Cleveland Handmade etsy team is doing a series of interviews with featured artists in the NE Ohio area. The first one is SaraKate, who makes really cool purses. You can check out the interview here, and her etsy shop here.

Way to go, SaraKate! You've got much more interesting answers to the questions than I'll come up with ;)

Attack of the (formerly) UFOs

After a brief family meeting, it was decided that I would take some time this weekend to get started on my holiday etsy shop sewing, since I've got Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all looming on the horizon. My first goal was to clear out some of the UFOs that have been hanging around, clogging up the cutting table and taking up space in my brain.




So, in roughly the order they were completed, here's the list of the FOs from this weekend:

1. SWAK blanket as a gift for a friend.
2. Two custom mermaid costumes.
3. A school bag for Lazy Kid, who starts "real" preschool tomorrow.
4. Some throw pillow covers for Christmas, made from redwork patterns I got here. Sorry for the embarrassingly bad photo, but I was in a hurry. Notice I've got two pillow covers but only one pillow? Waiting for a sale at Joanns to get another one ...
5. Two eyelet lace SWAK blankets for the shop.
6. A Halloween Hexagon quilt from stash fabric, which is all basted and ready to start quilting.
7. Three madras plaid homespun SWAK blankets for the shop.
8. A swirly wool toddler/child hat that I'm insanely proud I designed myself. See how the stripes swirl and decrease toward the top of the hat? Brilliant!
9. Pieces for the next baby quilt for the shop cut out and ready to start piecing.
10. And, if I stop typing and get my butt in gear, I may be able to finish my first pair of winter socks of the season, which are about 3/4" from the toe decreases right now.

So I'm going off to watch football (yawn) and knit furiously fast. Hope your weekend was equally productive!

Before and after

This is the inside of my sewing machine.

This is the inside of my sewing machine after I sew a bunch of quilts, mermaid costumes, pillows, and other stuff without bothering to do any cleaning.

This is the pile of stuff I picked out of the inside of my sewing machine.

The sad thing is that I sort of let it collect on purpose, because it's more rewarding to fish out a huge pile of stuff than it is to pull out tiny bits of fluff. I am a sick, sick woman.

New listing - mermaid tail and tiara costume set

You know you want one - and they come in your size! So go buy one already ...

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14789641

Mermaid tail for dress-up

Okay, when Lazy Kid spends all morning playing with her new imaginary friend, Alice the Mermaid, you can't expect me to refrain from busting out the sequins during naptime to make a mermaid tail, can you? Didn't think so.

Not bad for freehanding the design and basing the sizing off of a pair of leggings I swiped from her room after she was asleep. The fabric choice is admirably scaly (and from my stash, so therefore both free and studio-clearing), but the edges of the sequins are scratchy and have caused Lazy Kid to collapse in hysterics at least three times (since 4pm). Of course, she collapses in hysterics at least twice a day anyway, so it's probably not so bad, but I think any future iterations of this design will be made from the softer fabric Lazy Grandma used to make the shirt.

Future versions probably won't be lined in purple silk, either, but hey - I had it in the stash, and it was exactly the right size to fit the pattern pieces, so what's not to love about that? My daughter may have the only silk-lined dress up clothes in the state (country?), but that's fine by me.

So, how much would you be willing to pay for one of these for your daughter/granddaughter/niece/friend's kid? Would $30 be too much for a reversible, shiny-on-one-side, custom-fit play skirt? Too little? What do you think?

Happy happy joy joy

Photos of the studio reorganization:

The valance of awesomeness, next to the mobile of zen raindroppyness:


What makes the valance so awesome? See for yourself:

The heart of the redesign, which puts my sewing machine in a place that - for once - isn't facing a blank wall. Oh, the inspiration! Oh, the run-out room for my quilts! Oh, the ugly back of the desk that I covered up by thumbtacking an antique quilt over it!

Of course, my cutting area still looks like this, so there's still a ways to go before it's perfect, but we're getting better. Oh, and I cleared room to set up my photo lighting cube semi-permanently in the basement, so it won't be such a hassle to set it up and take it down for just one or two shots. This should make it easier to get stuff listed ... if I'd ever quit organizing and start sewing, that is!

mmmm ... hippies

I'm in the process of making another batch of SWAK blankets, this time using some rather unusual fabric I found on sale a few months ago. Unexpectedly, when I iron it it smells exactly like the hippie clothing store in Blacksburg, Virginia ... or at least, what the store used to smell like when I graduated way too long ago. Yum - patchouli-scented swaddling blankets!

I may have to post a warning for these: "Excessive exposure to this blanket may cause a lack of ambition, a tendency to wear peasant skirts with jingly bells on the hem, and a wicked case of the munchies."

Studio redesign

In my quest to turn an inadequate space into the most workable studio I can, I spent the entire morning rearranging the furniture in my office/studio. There are only two things that didn't get moved at all, and that was partly because I was too lazy to completely unload the 6-foot-tall bookcase :)

I'm most excited about the fact that I FINALLY took down the awful navy light-blocking curtains the previous owners left in the room. They've been open the whole time, but they were sucking the life out of the room, even when they were open all the way. I've got some fabric and trim set aside to make a valance for the room, which hopefully will get done this weekend, and I'm really excited about how those will turn out. I've had this fabric since about 2002, and I've never found a worthy project for it, but I think this is it.

And, I finally got the mobile hung up ... it's been hanging at a cockeyed angle off one of the curtain hooks since, um, Christmas.

I'm still trying to find homes for all of the orphan projects and in-process stuff, so I won't post a photo yet. Can't let you know what it's really like in here on a daily basis, now can I? That's the number one reason I don't do things like the "corners of my home" group on Flickr ... trust me, you don't want to see what goes on in the corners of MY home ;)